Macam mimpi ah beb… Muzik Rock Melayu boleh kedengaran kat dalam Dewan Esplanade ni? Sua lama kita tunggu beb. Baru sekarang sua boleh nengok. Fuyooo.. macam tak percaya aku.. *cubit tangan sendirik* *pause* *adoi..*

Well, well, well... Rock opera has just ended and In my honest opinion, it should be called "Tales from the Bawah Blok" coz not many people were 'dressed up' for an opera'...a well-dressed gentleman even hissed at a dude wearing bermudas & slippers... alamak! malunya aku... Abih tu ader satu makcik ni who kept on talking and yakking to her partner. Makcik oii.. ni kan pat esplanade, bukan pat depan TV, mulot tu cuba la stapler sikit. Ni bukan kurang ajar, tapi respect la sikit orang lain nak dengar aper kejadah yang Rafaat tengah bebual tu.. Aiyyooo..

Hehee Rafaat, well, he got that extra substance to chill out and quick witted enough to dispel any 'good harmless heckling from the audiences' - 'Rafaat - ada budayan, karyawan, sasterawan... suddenly, ade satu member of audience mencelah - "Cendawan!". the audience laughed...* pause * Rafaat shot back " tu lu ah..lu ah Cendawan.." the audience roared. He was definitely the right man for the job....

Rafaat Hamzah was the man! it was as if the show could run on him alone wifout all the music and all. I was lullabied to the great days of yore. My uncle used to remind me of the heydays that i missed out on and Rafaat took us on a memory lane.

Unwanted bukak tirai. Jeng Jeng Jeng! Hanafi, it was if he never aged a bit. TAPI BEB! Dia punya kepittt!! sama dia punya hairflick, out of this world. Will put any Pantene model to shame. And the percussion group too. One dude was juggling yoddeling, playing tons of drums and the flute too. Unwanted, well...errr..i love 'em...& respect 'em..BUT that long-haired guy in white do get a bit on my nerves..at times. Luckily i found out that I'm not the only one who felt that way. well, he was demonstrating the 'syiok sendiri' era...it's ok if u're somebody laa..but next to Hanafi...guys in the audience do not really know him.. well, if the topic was concentrating on Legends...to put it bluntly...dia ni sapa seh? if measured by the plateau of familiarity... People tau & kenal hanafi.tapi sapa mamat ni?.. BUT despite the lil' hiccup, it's ok...skit lebih kurang halal aper?

Yazid.. ah i like him.. nice hair curls.. cool shades and he changed his singing style a bit.. almost operatic but heck this was to be a rock opera and Lovehunters punya set was exceptionally good... His vocals were fantastic and they played a good mix bag of blues/slow numbers that sticks 2 da mind...

And then there was Nash. He was lie a true gentleman dressed to kill and wif a mannerism dat gave mat rockers a good name. Throwing kisses and swaying wif the dancer, this is one true seasoned performer. Ada budak bukak lighter bila Nash nyanyi lagu 'Ku dihalaman Rindu'... aaah.. He also sang "Pada Syurga Di Wajahmu".

Lagik kan, the indon acapella group was astounding.. all the while Kak Ann Hussein and his choir watched as if wanting to learn something from these guys.. these guys was a band itself just on vocals. U all imagine ah, pakai suara jer tau! Jamaica cafe dishes out an incredible vox melody of YEZZ - bicara Rindu & Ella- gemilang.. i do hope they could release that... & yup did talked wif 'em.. great musicians...& very humble peps & remember their 2 cents take of 'critics that do not know the values & criticised artistes' work openly' - "Biarin dong, mereka semua itu kuih bahulu, tahu saja semua tahu, tapi mereka tu cuma 'gemuk tepung sahaja'.. nggak ada soul.."

Ethnicity was the highlight of the show as rafaat tried to hide this hidden story of never forgetting yourself even wat kinda music u play or into. The percussions, the malay violins, really matched the rock groove. Anyway they call it groove rock melayu rite? so these addition of instruments was more of a bonus.

Overall, it was a great show. A chance for the young to mix with the old and the new to fuse with the .. old also lah

The apek botak (tingkat dua)- Queensway shopping centre got free adverstistment as Rafaat 'story ' kat kita the good ol' days.. aahhh.. rock will never die...it's just rileking one corner...